Tax Cutting Gives the Irish a Pot o' Gold

Ireland, the land of what economists and investors have 

in recent years called The Celtic Tiger for Ireland's 

financial rebound to enjoy the strongest economy that

this nation ever had, is on the financial rebound yet 

again; the Tiger is having a second wind. 

And what has been the factor in the Irish comeback? 

Tax cutting, and not just a wee trim either. Ireland,  

whose economy grew by an astounding 12.5% last

year, faster than any other nation in Europe (!), 

whacked its levy on corporations and became a magnet

for business and jobs. The Wall Street Journal remarked

recently that the Emerald Isle is "swimming in money"

and it's no wonder. All being more proof that U.S. economist 

Arthur Laffer was right; the Laffer Curve showed that lower

tax rates can result in faster growth and higher revenue,

and President Ronald Reagan implemented Laffer's curve

in his economic plan for the U.S. with positive results.

In Ireland, the results were even more dramatic.  

Ireland had a dysfunctional welfare-state economy in the 1990s.

Just before that decade, Irish unemployment was just a whisker 

under 18% in 1987.But eight years after that, Dublin implemented

a most daring economic plan. Ireland slashed its 40% corporate 

tax rate down to 12.5%, phasing it in over approximately ten 

years. Ireland soon began attracting new businesses and capital 

investment. The plan was a success, producing results that even 

its creators did not anticipate. U.S. multinationals soon came

over, and now number 950, with a sum total of 209,000 employees.

Ireland's population? Just five million. This is the equivalent

of a policy in the U.S. creating ten million jobs. Think about that.

Ireland, no longer a strictly agricultural country but now 

an industrialized nation, has one of the world's largest budget

surpluses with the new revenue pouring in from big tech and 

pharmaceutical companies making Dublin their home. One may 

ask, why haven't other nations taken a page from Ireland's book 

and done what the Irish did? Nations with left-leaning to outright

leftist governments have scoffed at the idea of tax competition 

among the world's nations all the while hamstringing the businesses 

inside of their borders, calling tax competition a "race to the bottom",

ignoring the fact that Ireland has raced all the way to the top.

Mr. Maduro over in Venezuela, are you listening? 

Mr. Obrador in Mexico, are you paying attention?

Mr. Lula in Brazil, what say you?

Our own left-wing head of government President Joe Biden wants 

to raise the U.S. corporate tax rate from 21% to at least 25%, but

would love to hike it to 30%. To be sure, Biden also wants to jack 

up tax rates on dividends and capital gains. And he wants to continue  

to spend, spend, spend like there's no tomorrow. If we don't hand this 

fiscal wild man his walking papers and replace him with a fiscally

conservative president next year our country won't have a tomorrow 

worth looking forward to. 

We can profit from Ireland's experience. This is the way President

Reagan recommended to us forty years ago. Let's have our own 

pot o' gold now!

Meanwhile, let's all have a Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

MEM